Key facts
- Lt. Col. Brandon Tyner, 41, was identified on November 12 as the US Army officer arrested in England.
- FBI Director Kash Patel said on November 10 that a US Army soldier was arrested in the UK in a Russia-related espionage investigation.
- Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on November 11 the arrest had nothing to do with Russia.
- The New York Times reported Tyner will be transferred to the US to be charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice after an expected UK court appearance.
- The Wall Street Journal reported Tyner was stationed at NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps headquarters in Gloucestershire.
- The exact nature of Tyner's involvement with Russia has not been publicly revealed, according to the report.
A US Army officer arrested in England on suspicion of attempting to pass sensitive information to Russia was identified on November 12 as Lt. Col. Brandon Tyner, 41. British police detained Tyner in a sting operation in the week of November 9, according to the report.
FBI Director Kash Patel said on November 10 that a US Army soldier had been arrested in the UK "in a Russia-related espionage investigation." Patel wrote on X that the FBI has "no tolerance for anyone who breaks their oath to the United States."
The New York Times reported that Tyner is expected to appear in a UK court the following week and will then be transferred to the US to be charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The exact nature of his involvement with Russia has not been publicly revealed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Tyner, a veteran who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Qatar, was stationed at NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps headquarters in Gloucestershire, the alliance's largest base in Britain. He previously received the Bronze Star Medal and the Defense Meritorious Service Medal.
On November 11, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: "This arrest has nothing to do with us, and we don't know what it's linked to." Peskov added that Russia has "no connection to it, and it has no bearing on us."
The case follows other espionage accusations against service members from several countries. UK Royal Navy junior intelligence specialist Teddy Young, 24, made his first court appearance on October 8 after being charged with two offenses for allegedly trying to pass protected information to a foreign power between November 2024 and May 2025. The Australian Federal Police said on August 21 that authorities charged a dual Russian-Australian citizen after he allegedly joined Ukraine's military and tried to pass information about Ukrainian forces to people linked to Russian intelligence. The Canadian chief military judge's office told reporters on November 4 that a Canadian military counter-intelligence agent charged with passing operational information to Ukraine will face a court-martial hearing in December.